Strong interest in hotel investment opportunities in Dubrovnik and Rab.
A total of 25 domestic and foreign investors have submitted their non-binding proposals to buy shares of two hotel companies in majority state ownership, Imperial Rab and Dubrovnik Maestral Hotels, reported the Office for State Property Management, reports Poslovni.hr on November 11, 2015.
As usual, the Office has not announced the names of the investors, but it is certain that among them are the Russian Avenue Group, which is in the process of taking over the Kupari complex near Dubrovnik and is also interested in Maestral, and Valamar Riviera, which has already expressed its interest in Rab, but has decided against participating in the previous public competition due to high price. The investors did not want to comment on the current tender and are in anticipation of the tender for the submission of binding offers.
The price will be crucial, especially in the case of Rab. The investors hope that this attempt at privatization will not be hampered by political uncertainties after the last Sunday’s parliamentary elections. This is the third attempt to sell the majority shares in the hotel companies which are both running successful businesses and are therefore attractive to investors, but the seller has not managed to put together the conditions of sale which would prompt buyers to submit binding bids.
In this round of collection of non-binding bids, 15 letters of intent for the Dubrovnik hotels have been received, while 10 investors have shown their interest for Rab. All bidders who have submitted their letters of interest will be invited to submit binding offers, after a decision on the starting price is made. Valamar is considered the most serious candidate to invest in Rab, since it would be a logical extension of the company's expansion to Kvarner region following the acquisition of the Baška Hotels this year.
Imperial Hotels would fit the profile of Valamar's portfolio; it is a relatively healthy company which has been profitable for years, but 127 million kuna was too high a price. The rumours that Karisma and LRH were also interested have been proven wrong. On the other hand, the Russian company is seriously interested in Maestral, as has been recently confirmed by Ivan Paladin, representative of the investors.
